Dresden – A City rebuilt

Dresden, straddling the River Elbe, immortalized by Canaletto and once known as “Florence on Elbe” has now emerged from the horrors of its fire-bombing in February 1945 followed by a half-century of Communism.

Kristallnacht saw the destruction of the Dresden Synagogue, an architectural treasure designed by the same Gottfried Semper who created the city’s gorgeous opera house. The new Dresden Synagogue, opened in 2002, stands on the same site with the Star of David saved from the original synagogue and hidden by a local firefighter now installed above the entrance of the new building. The Hatikva Club provides a variety of programs to educate the public about Jewish history and culture in the present and the past. The Old Jewish Cemetery on Pulsnitzer Strasse is the oldest in Saxony, with graves dating back to 1750.